Heat spreaders are used in many electronic devices to provide a thermal path from a heat source to an outside medium. Heat spreaders typically dissipate heat by conduction, transferring heat from one solid to another. Heat spreaders also transfer heat by thermal radiation to a body with a different surface temperature.
Often, modern electronic devices have multiple heat sources in a limited space. Providing separate, discrete runs for multiple heat spreaders may be difficult given the compact nature of modern electronic devices and the limited space available within such devices' housings. However, using a single heat spreader for multiple heat sources may result in transferring heat inefficiently, or not at all, from the heat sources.